Monday, 8 October 2007

NY Times: Christian Lebanon

An interesting slideshow and an accompanying article from the New York Times deals with the current political situation in Lebanon...interesting to those who follow events in the Middle East. Robert Fisk, the preeminent journalist at the Independent newspaper and bestselling author, who's an expert on Lebanon (and the Middle East), has warned repeatedly that the Lebanese are on the edge of a civil war.

The article in the NY Times highlights that the current "struggle is over who gets to be the next president, a post reserved for a Christian under Lebanon’s Constitution, and which must be filled by the end of November. But the larger question — one that is prompting rival Christian factions to threaten war — is whether Lebanese Christians must accept their minority status and get along with the Muslim majority or whether Christians should insist on special privileges no matter what their share of the population."

Isn't majority rule one of the fundamental principles of democracy?

Another telling paragraph in the article: "The Christians allied with Hezbollah have had to overcome their own deeply entrenched prejudice against Muslims, Mr. Franjieh said: “We were always taught that we were superior to the Muslims. Now we must realize they are our brothers, and we must help each other.”

Ah, yes...the poison of religious racism.

In my view, Muslim political dominance in Lebanon is inevitable...it'll either be achieved by changing the country's constitution or through civil war.

About The Travel Photographer

Based in New York City, I am a freelance photographer specializing in documenting endangered cultures
and traditional life ways of Asia, Latin America and Africa. My images, articles and photo features were published in various magazines, and my travel photographs were featured by some of the largest adventure travel companies in the United States and Great Britain, as well as in multinational corporations' art collections. My photographs have been acquired by an eclectic range of clients; from the Standard Chartered’ Bank's permanent art collection to Spike TV.

I also organize and lead photo expeditions and workshops for photographers who share my enthusiasm for unusual cultures,
uncommon locations and lesser known festivals. I'm a faculty member at the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop, and give workshops at the Travel Photographer Society (Kuala Lumpur).